An Almost Unspeakable Plan (Sam/Joe/Maggie/Carolyn/ghost)

The next evening Sam found himself sitting in the living room of the Evans’ cottage alone. He had finished working on a landscape painting about an hour ago. He’d been gone most of the day but Molly hadn’t appeared in the cottage during the time he was home.

"Maybe she’s pleased with our progress…..knows we’re trying," he thought. "Maybe she appeared to Joe at the cemetery. Or to Carolyn up in the mansion. I wonder if Carolyn found anything in old diaries or history books?"

Sam got up off the sofa with a groan and looked around at the mess. The place was very tidy and clean when Maggie left that morning. He began emptying ashtrays, picking up coffee cups and shot glasses. There were wadded up pieces of sketch paper on the floor. "Maggie will be home any minute now," he thought. "Poor girl, having a slob for a father. At least there aren’t any more items left by Molly."

He wondered how Joe had done at Eagle Hill that morning. There hadn’t been time for Joe to stop by on his way to work. "It must have been creepy being alone in the early morning hours there. Well, we’ll know soon….Joe’s probably at the Blue Whale before stopping by here." Sam realized he'd been muttering to himself again and sighed.

He'd been at the Blue Whale earlier in the afternoon following a frustrating morning at the court house and talking to authorities. They were semi-impressed with the old letter but were also burying the whole situation in paperwork. They didn’t seem to think that an unborn child buried in the criminal part of the cemetery mattered. "Well, it matters to Molly and she simply isn’t going to leave this alone," he mused.

Taking another quick look around the living room at what Carolyn, Maggie and Joe would see when they walked in, he thought it would pass. Sitting down in the chair with a cigarette, he waited for the three to arrive.

It has been a long few days. Maggie’s tension and fear of something supernatural will occur at any moment. To put aside fear of everything Maggie enjoyed herself at the Blue Whale with her friends.

When Joe, herself and Carolyn returned to the cottage later that evening, Maggie was happy to see her father trying to be productive. “Hi Pop,” she said with delight. “I do hope you are alright.” She went to Sam and then made herself comfortable. Joe, dear tell Pop what you have found out about this…letter.”

"Well Sam, Molly left us another big clue. I didn't get to tell you this part, Carolyn," he said looking at his friend.

"I went to the cemetery just as the sun was beginning to rise, and wouldn't you know it, the caretaker was out. He must never go anywhere; I wonder if he sleeps. Anyway, I told him exactly what I was looking for and that we'd found a document that indicated Molly Devlin had been murdered and was not a suicide. He just waved me on and left muttering to himself." Joe took a deep breath, got up and started pacing.

"I looked at the stone again; it was just her name and the dates and then I felt her behind me. She was crying and then began scratching and digging at the dirt over the grave. When she left, I looked to see if anything was left behind and sure enough, there was an envelope with three short letters in them."

Joe sighed and looked at the three. "Then, I had to get to work and couldn't look at the letters until lunch. It was a long morning, let me tell you. Anyway, the letters were from Quentin Collins and they were written to Molly. As far as I can tell, Molly and her dad had been staying at the Trask School and were visiting Molly's aunt in Collinsport when an accident killed the dad and aunt. Are you with me so far?"

"Molly's dad had worked for Trask and it sounds like Judith Collins found a position for Molly at Collinwood. Molly was an orphan and was very young. Quentin wrote the letters to her at Collinwood when he was away. They are very kind and warm and show that he thought of her as a cherished younger sister. He treated her with respect. She must have taken the letters with her when Trask forced her to go back with him. She was obviously not wanting to kill herself; she knew that Quentin would help her and she was running to Collinwood when she was murdered. She claimed it was Trask at the seance. The history records are wrong."

"What are we going to do?" He looked at Carolyn. "I've heard of Quentin's reputation but it seems he could be a good guy when he felt like it. Did you have a chance to search through anything at Collinwood today?"

"Yes Joe, in fact I found something quite interesting. I happened to have run across the diary of Quentin Collins, and he turned out to be pretty proficient at writing regular entries." Carolyn reached into her purse and pulled out a small diary: one of many no doubt. "The one I have here is dated at the same time all of this Molly stuff has been going on." Carolyn opened up the diary and began reading random entries here and there that she had marked off.

"According to this one entry, Molly had came to work at Collinwood for a short time, but was then forced to return to Trask's School soon after. During her stay, Quentin had grown a liking for her. Later on it talks about how hard Quentin took the news of Molly's death. He, of course, believed that what was said regarding it was completely false, but really didn't have any proof. It has here that he wanted to find out what happened to Molly, no matter what it took or how long."

Carolyn looked up at the others. "Well, that's really about all that I pulled from this, but it does shed a little more insight on how or why Quentin was involved in all of this."

"Yes, that certainly does," Sam said squinting at an unknown object in the distance." He was beginning to get the glimmer of a rather horrid idea.

"It goes along with Molly's claim that it was Trask and not Quentin who fathered her unborn baby. That poor girl." He went to look out the windows as the idea grew in his mind.

Turning to the others, he said, "You know, Quentin might not be as thoughtful a ghost as Molly. Didn't you say he was frightening when you saw him at Collinwood a few days ago, Carolyn?" He was recalling what Carolyn had told them about the angry looking ghost. Then looking at Joe he said, "You know, it's a shame that the authorities don't take this seriously. We might just have to take matters into our own hands. I sure hate to do it, but these ghosts aren't going to leave us alone until we do something."

He looked at Joe to see if he were beginning to get the same idea. Then he looked at Maggie and Carolyn; he felt horrible about suggesting to them what the action they all needed to take might be. Well, he would ease into it. "Does anyone have any ideas as to what we might do next?'

Maggie was sceptical about the whole thing. “If these spirits want something from us, what do you suppose we do Pop?” She continued to get the idea that this morning is not the last time we will be visiting the cemetery. Maggie looked at Joe for concern.

Suddenly after much thinking Maggie continued the conversation to break the silence. “Do you have anything in mind Joe, I mean it’s not like we can rob a grave or anything.”

After Maggie's grave-robbing remark, Joe looked at Sam and saw they were both considering the option. They would need at least one of the young women to help, preferably both. He decided to seem to make a joke and pay attention to the response from Carolyn and Maggie.

"Yeah sweetheart, we could go dig up the coffin and see if we can find any clues. The authorities aren't being helpful in a timely manner and it seems like Molly and Quentin wouldn't mind. How does that sound for an evening adventure? Carolyn, do you think your Great, Great Uncle Quentin or whatever he is would quit spooking you if we looked into Molly's grave?"

He looked at the faces around the room to watch the reaction.

Carolyn was surprised that Joe would even make such a remark. She never knew him to be one to take such drastic risks, but guessed that in times of need, that he was capable of such.

"Well, I think that the whole idea is atrocious, but then again, this whole ordeal has been. I'm not sure that it is the right thing to do, but then again, what is right? She is obviously not at rest, so it's not like we would be disturbing her. But how are we going to get around that caretaker guy?" Carolyn thought about the four of them out in the middle of the night digging up a grave, and being caught by the old man. He would surely call the police, and then the whole town would know.

"Unlike my cousin David, however, I do not have interest in being terrorized in ghosts from my family past. And so, Joe, I will join you on your quest, but you better hope that my mother, especially, doesn't find out." Carolyn thought for a second, "You better hope that no one asides from us finds out, actually!"

By now Sam had a few more drinks in him. "That's what I like, showing some spunk in the face of strange and disturbing events. You're a true Collins," he said raising his glass in a sort of toast to Carolyn.

"I'm not kidding, we have to do something. Yes, I agree it's greatly risky. In this case, there's more risk from the Police than actual ghosts. That's why it's best if we go in the middle of the night. That caretaker has to sleep sometime. Joe and I can do the errrr....the actual work, can't we Joe?" Sam waited for a nod from his daughter's dependable boyfriend.

"Yes, we just need to have someone holding flashlights and keeping a look out in case we need to run and hide. Now, it's going to be a lot creepier at night than it was during the day. And I'm with you on not telling another soul. This is surely something that no one else would understand. Maggie darling, I know it sounds awful but Joe and I will be there too. I don't know what else we can do. What do you think sweetheart?"

Maggie looks at her father with concern, “I am just worried about it that’s all. I just am rather worried what we will find or…” she hesitates, “what we will unveil.” She goes to Joe for comfort. “But if it’s to help that poor spirit find rest, I guess we don’t have much of a choice.”

"I know sweetheart, it sounds horrible so don't think about it too much," Joe said while giving Maggie a hug. "I think we should do this tonight before we have time to think about it and lose what courage we have. Let's get a few hours sleep and Carolyn and I can meet you here at 1:00 a.m. Carolyn, I know it might be hard for you to sneak out of Collinwood; I'll have my car ready at the end of the drive if that's O.K. with you." Then Joe remembered what an expert Carolyn was at sneaking out of Collinwood in the middle of the night.

"Sam, no offense man, but it might help if you slowed down on the drinks; I'm counting on you to help with the err....what we have to do." Joe gave Maggie a significant look. They knew they needed Sam functioning and sober to get through the night. They went their seperate ways, dreading what the hours ahead held for them.

~end scene~